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Mother accused of incest and child abuse to face court

Anne Davies

One of four mothers whose children were removed from a farm in south-western NSW amid allegations of neglect, child abuse and incest is due to find out her fate this afternoon after she tried to snatch two of her sons back from foster care.

The 48-year-old woman dubbed Betty Colt, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, has been charged with procuring the removal of a child from care and with recruiting a child to carry out or assist in criminal activity. She is due to appear in court at 2pm.

Six of her 13 children were removed into the care of the state last year after they were discovered in June 2012 living among a group of 40 adults and children on an isolated farm an hour-and-a-half from Canberra.

Another six children under 16, also living on the squalid farm, were removed.

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The children were undernourished, had terrible dental problems, some were unable to talk intelligibly and were well behind their peers developmentally and some had intellectual disabilities.

Once in care, the children, who range in age from five to 15, told carers they had been sexually abused by siblings and by adults on the farm.

Subsequent genetic testing has revealed that of the 12 children, 11 had closely related or related parents. Ms Colt was living in an incestuous relationship with her brother on the farm. There was also evidence that Ms Colt and her siblings are likely the result of incestuous relations between their parents, who migrated from New Zealand in the 1960s.

In September last year the Children's Court ordered the children be placed in permanent foster care until they turn 18. In doing so the judge, Peter Johnstone, said the case appeared to involve "intergenerational incest" as there was evidence that the four mothers had themselves been the victims of sexual abuse within the family from as young as 12.

But soon after the children were placed in care, Ms Colt devised a plot to get two of her sons back from the foster carers. Ms Colt also faces charges of recruiting her son Bobby (a court appointed name) to commit a criminal act. Ms Colt had secretly given her sons a mobile phone which they kept in a plastic bag in a bush on the foster property.

The extended family, numbering about 40, moved from interstate to NSW in 2009, but Fairfax Media understands the family may have already come to the attention of child protection services in other states and moved to avoid orders relating to their children.

The NSW Department of Family and Community Services and police finally visited the farm in June 2012 and removed the children the following month after seven risk-of-significant-harm orders. The case has raised questions about the inadequacy of information sharing between state child protection authorities and why authorities let these children slip through the cracks.

Members of the family were also understood to be on Commonwealth benefits, raising further questions about why authorities were unable to track down and protect these children.